Much Younger Siblings In Nest

[melbournebudgies 0]

Has anyone had a single chick that was much younger than it's siblings? I have three in the nest at the moment, my first pair to lay (the others are still thinking about it ) There were five eggs but for some reason the third and fourth were clear but the first two and the last one were fertile. As a result I now have an 8 day old, a six day old and a one day old in my nest. As the others haven't layed yet I don't have a foster with small chicks unfortunately.

 

Will this little one be okay? He has food in his crop at the moment but I still worry about him being crowded out and missing out on feeds. Has anyone had a similar situation and what was the outcome?

[Dave_McMinn 0]

I have had a similar situation in the past, and it depends on how good the mum and dad are of course. I say keep an eye on him, ensure he is getting the right amount of food. Nothing you can do at the moment anyway, so just watch and hope that all goes well.

[**KAZ** 0]

I had one recently that way way smaller than all the others and it did very well

[Elly 0]

I think my concern would be that the younger ones could squash and kill the little one, I didn't see that mentioned but have read on here it happens, so that is something I would do your best and watch for.

[deb 0]

I hope the little one will be okay, in my last clutch my youngest was born 5 days after the first 3 and he got stood on by the older ones and got injured and ended up dying but the hen was doing a shocking job of looking after them.

Edited July 26, 2008 by deb

[maesie 0]

My last clutch had 9 (yes, 9 eggs)... although only 5 hatched successfully, they were pretty spaced apart. All were fine. The larger chicks and parents do step on the small bubs, but they seem to be pretty robust. As the others said, keep an eye on them though. Good luck!

[**KAZ** 0]

I think my concern would be that the younger ones could squash and kill the little one, I didn't see that mentioned but have read on here it happens, so that is something I would do your best and watch for.

The thing is...when people make the statement that a chick has been "squashed" by siblings and found dead that often is NOT the case. Its just that a chick has died for whatever reason and once they are dead you find a flattened chick in the nest. Baby budgies are very resilient and can cope with both parents stepping all over them and many other things. I have had some fall onto concrete from nests and still survive. If a chick is going to die in a nest it will die from everything else BEFORE it dies from merely being squashed. I think a squashed and flattened chick occurs after death from another issue.

Edited July 27, 2008 by KAZ

[Neat 0]

Mb, this is what happend with Angels Clutch. She had 7 eggs the 3 eldest are due to fledge while the 2 that are lest remaining are just getting their down and pin feathers, the other 2 didn't survive and they were the youngest - I had my timing out and the foster hen that i was putting the youngest too, didin't lay! I took a chance and mate i paid for it with the loss of those two.. Just keep are close eye on the Bubs I really hope this doesn't happen to you

 

It's funny though looking at the age difference in the nests

[melbournebudgies 0]

It's amazing to see how mucch bigger they grow in just a week when you can compare them like that! It seems to be doing okay so far, there is always food in it's crop so we might be okay :hap:

[Neat 0]

That is good news, Just double check it though MB, :hap: Best of luck with it :hap:

[melbournebudgies 0]

I am checking to make sure he is being fed atleast twice a day and more often when I am home during th day so hopefully I'll see before he has any major problems.

[Norm 0]

I agree with Kaz, mostly with good parents it’s amazing how you can have really large chicks in the nest & still the smallest one will do good, but it depends on the parents, some just let the smaller ones die. Like Kaz says I think they die from lack of food or other things, not from being squashed, you often see the smallest baby lost in a maze of larger bodies & still with good parents it’s crop is full & if doing well in a few days they increase in size so much.

[Justbev 0]

I have just had two tiny first day old chicks die from a clutch of six.  I thought it was because they had been squashed as they were so much smaller than the larger chicks but according to Kas they probably had some other issues.  I did check on the last one this morning and put it aside so mum would see it but it was dead and under all the others when I came home.  It is so distressing to see the poor little mites die after their mammoth effort of getting out of the egg.  This is the first time I have experienced this in about ten years of breeding a few every year so I am thinking maybe it could be genetic thing with these particular parents.